The present invention relates to an information processor, program, storage medium, and control method and, in particular, to an information processor, program, storage medium, and control method that allow for reduction in power consumption.
In these years, power saving technology of increasing battery operation time of a portable information processing terminal and the like is attracting attention. For example, a technology has been used that changes the operating frequency and operating voltage of a central processing unit according to the amount of computation (see “Intel Low-Power Technologies” (by Intel Corporation, 2002; Intel White Paper; URL: http://www.intel.com/ebusiness/pdf/prod/related_mobile/wp021601.pdf)). Furthermore, another technology has been used that discontinue clock supply to a central processing unit to reduce power consumption (see Advanced Configuration and Power Interface Specification Revision 2.0a” (Compaq Computer Corporation and four other companies, Mar. 31, 2002)).
Information processors incorporating these two technologies have been used. However, these conventional information processors cannot effectively combine the two technologies to reduce power consumption. For example, these information processors are not efficient because a high voltage may be supplied to the central processing unit according to the technology described in non-patent literature 1 even though clock supply to the central processing unit is stopped according to the technology described in non-patent literature 2.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an information processor, program, storage medium, and control method that solve the problem. The object is achieved by the combination of features set forth in the independent claims herein. The dependent claims define preferable, specific embodiments of the present invention.